Which long-term illnesses do patients find most limiting? A census-based cross-sectional study of 340,000 people

David M. Wright (), Michael Rosato and Dermot O’Reilly
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David M. Wright: Queen’s University Belfast
Michael Rosato: Ulster University
Dermot O’Reilly: Queen’s University Belfast

International Journal of Public Health, 2017, vol. 62, issue 8, No 12, 939-947

Abstract: Abstract Objectives To investigate associations between a widely used measure of self-assessed health (limiting long-term illness, LLTI) and 11 long-term health conditions. Methods Information on LLTI and health conditions was obtained from 2011 Census returns for a 28% representative sample of the Northern Ireland population (n = 342,868). Logistic regression was used to predict LLTI by sex and age group for each condition found in isolation, adjusting for marital status, social class, household car access, housing tenure, and educational attainment. The relationship between limitation and multimorbidity was also assessed. Results Prevalence of LLTI varied considerably among conditions when found in isolation; those with mobility problems were over 50 times more likely to report limitation than those with hearing loss. Women were less likely to report limitation than men [OR = 0.93 (0.90, 0.96)], but the pattern of associations with health conditions was similar for both sexes. Prevalence of LLTI increased with age and number of health conditions. Conclusions LLTI was most closely associated with mobility problems. Limitation increased slightly with age, but patterns of LLTI across conditions were not sex dependent.

Keywords: Limiting long-term illness; Self-assessed health; Census (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1007/s00038-016-0929-2

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